Importance of Organisational Learning and Development

This report discusses the importance of organisational learning and development in talent management. It explores various theories, models, and practices of learning and development. It also reflects on the potential of being a coach and provides strategies for personal development.

Learning and
development

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Evaluate the importance of organisational learning and development........................................3
Critically appraise the learning and development theories, models and practices......................5
Critically reflect on your potential as a coach drawing on various theories and feedbacks........7
Develop personal development strategies...................................................................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION
Learning and development is a talent management strategy with the help of which an
organisation align their organisational goals with the individual goals. Various organisational
learning programs are organised by the managers and leaders so that they can make them
competent enough for dealing with the changes that are taking place (Boer and et. al., 2017).
Learning and development ensures that the right talent is attracted and retained, various
capabilities are developed and organisational culture is managed by providing employees to
learn. For this coaching and mentoring are taken into consideration which facilitate them as with
this the individual are provided guidance and support for undertaking various activities. This
report discusses about the importance of organisational learning and development, various
theories and models of learning and development are taken into consideration. Apart from this
importance of coaching and analysis of various models of coaching are also taken in the report.
Evaluate the importance of organisational learning and development
Organisational Learning is a process in which the individuals, groups, organisational levels are
included through interpreting, integrating and intuiting. This learning within the organisation is
supported by the leadership within the organisation.
Characteristics of Organisational Learning
This concept supports the organisation in creating, retaining and transferring the knowledge
among the people which enable them to strengthen the company. It is based upon three actions
conceive, act and reflect which facilitate them in undertaking there processes knowledge
creation, knowledge retention and knowledge transfer.
Benefits of Organisational Learning
With the help of organisational learning the satisfaction level of the employees can easily be
improved which further help them in lower the rates of the turnover of the employees. This has
direct impact on the productivity of the company, their profitability and efficiency etc. Also it
creates the chances of adaptability within the organisation.
Learning Organisation has become an important concept for the businesses which facilitate
them to take competitive advantage. This concept has become an important and powerful source
for the entire global business community and for the academic. It was proposed by Peter M.
Senge in 1990.

Characteristics of Learning Organisation
It is considered to be a social invention which is based upon intangible elements such as
discipline. According to Senge, there are five disciplines that contribute to the creation of the
concept of learning organisation which includes: personal mastery; mental models;
shared vision; team learning, and systems thinking.
Benefits of Learning Organisation
It encourages and facilitates the organisation in continuously transforming themselves to
be able to survive into changing business needs and environment. With this the managers and
employees can easily meet the challenges as it provides them the elements with which they can
create vision.
All the individual need to learn various concepts as they have ability to do so. This
enables them to adapt the changes that are taking place in the environment that can facilitate
them in achieving growth. Organisational learning can be explained as the capability to develop
the thoughts, productivity, commitment that can facilitate in continuous improvement in the
organisation. Also it can be defined as a reflective process in which all the members from
different level of the organisation are involved in gathering information from internal as well as
external environment. Such information are then filtered with the help of a sense making process
and interpreted. On the basis of which various actions can be determined in context of the
changes required in the organisation and theories is use. The process of organisational learning
includes creating, retaining and transferring knowledge within the organisation with the aim of
increasing the gains of the organisation (Chhibber, 2019).
The views of organisational learning has two categories that can be classified as technical
view and the social view. The technical view assumes that the organisational learning is
associated with effective processing of various information, their interpretation and responses
towards the information which can be gathered from various sources that can be within the
organisation or outside the organisation. While the focus of the social view is on the ways with
which the people can make sense of their work experience. For the managers it is important to
strike a balance between two views so that the dynamism can be recognised efficiently and
various skills can be synchronised so that the objectives can be achieved (Garvey and et. al.,
2017).
Importance of organisational learning and development

For the organisation it is important to determine various benefits of learning and
development as with this they can make their workforce competitive, developing a culture in
which the employees can learn and adapt the changes etc. Various benefits that the organisation
will have include:
 Increases job satisfaction: With the help of this the employees knowledge and abilities
can be increased that contributes in increasing their satisfaction. This leads to enhanced
performance of the employees which ultimately increases productivity, profits and
efficiency of the organisation.
 Enhances adaptability throughout the organisation: As with such learning and
development the skills of all the employees can be improved that can make them
competent enough for dealing with the changes. This enhances the adaptability of the
organisation for accepting the change (Ameen, 2017).
 Keeping up the business with Industrial revolution: With the help of organisation
learning and development process the business can be kept updated with the latest and
emerging technologies. Due to industrial revolution the changes are taking place
significantly and this compel the companies to act quickly.
The concept of organisational learning is ongoing process which is not complicated but it
facilitates the organisation in standing out from the competition. Further organisational learning
enables the team members to learn various skills that can help them in executing specific tasks. It
ensures that the focus on development of each and every individual is laid so that nobody in the
organisation is left behind while contributing to the overall performance so that the objectives of
the organisation can be achieved (Geppert, 2017).
Critically appraise the learning and development theories, models and practices
Learning and development facilitate an organisation in keeping their employees
competent enough for dealing with the changes that can take place within the organisation or
outside the organisation. For this various models, theories and practices need to be analysed by
the organised so that they can build better relations with the environmental factors. Various
learning theories that need to be taken into consideration facilitates that how the individuals can
be acquired, retained and recall a set of knowledge. With the help of such theories it can be
identified that how learning can occur. The principles that are provided by various theories and

models are used as guidelines that can help as instructional tools, techniques etc. The model and
theories that they need to focus upon are given below:
 Behaviourism: As per this theory it is assumed that the behaviourist perspectives are
shaped by various actions that are taking place in the environment or at the workplace
due to this the behaviour also changes. Such response of the stimuli can be positive or
negative reinforcement. With the help of such reinforcement the decision can be taken as
the level of changes in the behaviour of the learner can be recognised with this.
 Cognitive theories: In this theory it is analysed that how the mind of learner works at the
time learning process. With the change in the behaviour, the mental process of the learner
also changes that can be measured. This theory suggest that the learner must participate
in the activity of the process of learning instead of responding to the stimuli.
 Constructivist theories: This theory suggests that the learner must construct knowledge
on their which are based on their past experiences. In the organisation the ability of the
learner are determined of constructing knowledge from their skills and understanding.
For this the application of the knowledge must be applied to the situation which are faced
by the organisation and for this the learner need to be encouraged to do so (Herodotou,
2018).
In addition to this the modes of learnings and development need to be taken into
consideration so that the behaviour of the learner can be managed. This will enables the
organisation in making their employees manages various situation that may prevailing. The
learning modes facilitate in managing the changes in the organisation-environment relationships.
Table: Three Modes of Learning
Learning modes Change in the organisation-environment relationship
Adjustment learning Due to fluctuations, changes are minor that are reversible
Turnover learning Partial changes that are significant and are irreversible
Turnaround Substantial changes that are irreversible
(Source adapted from: Hedberg, B. (1981). How organizations learn and unlearn. In P. C.
Nystrom and W. H. Starbuck (Eds), Handbook of Organizational Design. London: Cambridge
University Press.)

With the help of these modes the changes can be managed effectively. In case of
adjustment learning, the fluctuations are minor but they need to be managed so that their impact
can be reversed. For this the learner must use their skills and in addition to this an understanding
of various situations must be developed among the employees so that they can minimise the
impact of it. Turnover learning modes are used by the organisation with the help of which high
level learning can be implemented in the organisation. Such changes need to be complied with
various complex norms, rules etc. and this is because with this the impact of the significant
changes can be reversed by the organisation which is very difficult. Further various turnaround
modes are taken into consideration by the organisation which can facilitate dealing with the
substantial changes. The impact of these changes is irreversible but with the use of Turnover and
Turnaround modes of learning the impact can be reduced (MacLennan, 2017).
Critically reflect on your potential as a coach drawing on various theories and feedbacks
Coaching can be defined as developing various skills and knowledge in the person so that
the performance can be improved. This facilitates achievement of the objectives of the
organisation as with the help of this the abilities of the employees can be improved. The
coaching targets to improve the performance of the employees at the workplace and it may also
have impact on the personal life of the individual (Peter Senge and the learning organization,
2013). But they are provided for a short period of time and targets specific skills and goals.
While mentoring is a concept with which long term support, guidance and advices are provided
to the people. At the workplace the more senior and experienced employees are asked to provide
support to the employees as they have better understanding and knowledge of dealing with
various situations. With the help of mentoring style an individual can provide support and
assistance to the individuals working in the organisation for their career, tasks and activities that
they have to perform and many more.
As a leader I had to manage my teams effectively so that they can perform consistently.
For this I had to build relations with them which are sometimes formal sometimes informal. This
enables the employees to share their problems, concerns faced by them. I share my experiences
with the employees that make them feel motivated. Also I provide them guidance for the tasks so
that they can achieve their specific tasks by way of letting them know the steps that can be taken
by them to perform (Matthews, MacCarthy and Braziotis, 2017).

For mentoring and coaching the employees various models need to be analysed that
facilitate coaches and mentors in dealing with the actions that they can take in different
situations. The three stage of model of mentoring is given below:
Exploration: In this stage the mentors need to identify the various issues that are faced by thee
employees with various strategies such as by taking lead and developing relation with them.
Various aims and objectives must be identified so that they can be clarified to the mentees as
well. For this they need to focus upon various methods such as they need to listen to the
employees, ask them the questions regarding their opinions and negotiate with the agenda that
they have to achieve (Utley, 2018).
New Understanding: In this stage of the model the employees must focus upon the
providing support and counselling to the employees, giving constructive feedbacks to them,
coaching and demonstrating various skills. For this they need to focus upon various methods of
doing so that includes recognising the strengths and weaknesses of the employees, determining
developmental needs of the individual, sharing experiences and telling them the stories,
establishing priorities for them and many more.
Action Planning: In the action planning stage, various actions are determined by the
mentors and coaches along with their consequences. This helps them to develop the action plan
that they need to execute, along with this mentoring process must be taken into consideration as
with their relationships can be improved. For achieving this various methods need to be adopted
that includes encouraging creative thinking, monitoring of the process and evaluation of
outcomes.
Analysis of the models and theories enables me in determining various actions that I can
take for managing the individuals efficiently. Such analysis facilitates in supporting the
employees for their development, career progression and on the job learning. This enhances their
performance as with this the knowledge and skills of the employees can be improved (Oyston,
2018).
Develop personal development strategies
It is important for the individual to formulate plans for the personal development as with the
help of maximisation of the personal development the opportunities at the workplace can be
grabbed efficiently. It can for filling up the knowledge gap, wellbeing and health related factors,
improving the existing skills, managing the work-life balance and many more. For this

evaluation of the performances need to be done as with this the strengths and weaknesses can be
determined which enables the individual in concentrating on the developmental strategies (Min,
Min and Chen, 2018). On the basis of the above analysis various strategies are identified that can
contribute in the overall development. Such strategies include:
Effective goal setting: It is important for an individual to establish goals so that they can
determine their actions. With this clear objectives can be defined that I want my team to achieve.
Such goal can be used as benchmark for measuring the success of the organisation. Establishing
the goals make people realise that the objectives to be achieved are specific, measurable,
achievable, realistic, time based etc.
Killer Time Management: For the success it is important that effective plans are
formulated as with the help of planning an itinerary can be prepared. It will ensure that the
course of actions is in direction of completing the tasks. This will enable in organising the flow
of the work, thus it will make me proactive rather than reactive.
Emphasis of continuing education: For the personal development it is important for the
individual to have knowledge and for this continuing the education is important. With education
new perspective can be developed for the similar tasks that we perform every day. It will enable
me and my team mates in improving the business by way of various techniques and concepts that
can be developed by education (Rodger, Chaudhary and Bhatt, 2019).
Developing Empathy: By developing empathy among the self awareness can be created
that will enable me in recognising the emotions of the others and recognise their opinions.
Empathy is related with intelligence that will make me efficient enough in responding to the
issues of the teams and in managing the conflicts that may arise at the workplace. By
understanding the employees various strategies for their development can be formulated.
CONCLUSION
It is concluded from the above report that for the organisation it is important to consider the
organisational learning and development. With this they can make their individuals competent
enough for dealing with the changes that are taking place. It will improve the productivity and
performance of the employees which will contribute to the overall development of the
organisation. The leaders and the managers of the organisation need to analyse various theories
and models of learning and development such as behaviourist theories, cognitive theories etc. so
that the behaviour of the organisation can be managed effectively. In addition to this, various

coaching and mentoring approaches need to be taken into consideration so that proper guidance
can be provided to the employees. Further a proper development program must be prepared with
which various opportunities can be determined so that the improvement can be made.

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Online
Peter Senge and the learning organization, 2013. [online] Available through:<
https://infed.org/mobi/peter-senge-and-the-learning-organization/>
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